Honor Killings in Iraq
07 December 2005 4:35 pm by Taylor Marsh
Honor Killings in Iraq
Women’s rights in Iraq are a subject of
growing alarm for activists and some secular groups. The widely accepted and
seldom prosecuted practice of "honor killings" — in which family
members of women who have had extramarital sex have a right to kill her — is
of particular concern. NPR
Women are in serious trouble in Iraq, a fact that is going unreported
in the midst of Terror Guy’s "progress" proclamations.
A young girl named "Fahtima" (spelling unknown) was
recently kidnapped and the very idea that she might have been raped,
caused her to lose her life. To get a medical test to see if she’d been raped
would have been a bigger disgrace. So, her family killed her. It is called an
"honor killing." After all, the family would have been ruined. The
father could not lift his head. People in the tribe called “Fahtima’s” abduction a "curse"
on the family. Tribal customs demanded she be killed, so the family could be
washed. They "contained" the situation by killing her, family members said. None of the
women asked questions, though the mother wept.
In Iraq, murder is different from an "honor killing." People brought
to court and charged with an "honor killing" get maybe 6 months, according
to one lawyer interview for this NPR piece by Anne Garrels, but oftentimes they’re sentence is suspended.
"Honor killings" are on the rise in Iraq. Women’s rights activists
believe the new Iraqi constitution will encourage these types of killings, because
there are no protections in the constitution for women. We covered this right
after the constitution was voted on.
That’s what George W. Bush has wrought in Iraq. So, the next time you hear
a Republican talking about "progress," laugh. Then tell them the story
of "Fahtima." She is one among many. Iraqi women left behind because
Bush ran out of time and sold them out.
